CHAPTER 4

this is a daily reminder
━━━━━━━━━━━━━

This is a daily reminder
To relax,
To stay calm.

To be yourself,
To know you can be anything.

To love yourself,
To not hurt yourself.

To always have hope,
To know everything will be okay.

This is a daily reminder
That you have made it so far already,
That you haven't given up,
That whatever you're doing is right,
And that you are going to be amazing.

Don't give up.
Keep holding on. Tomorrow will be better.

The paper in Taehyungs hand is crumbled, the words neatly written in black ink slightly smudged since wet tears has landed upon the white paper.

With his breath shaking and his body trembling he has hid himself in the bathroom he's gotten so used to by now, the one farthest away from the practice room. The white tiles beneath him has received plenty of tears as well, as he sits on the cold floor, leaning his back up against the wooden door.

His hand shakes as he pinches the white paper between his pointer and thumb, the only thing heard is the thumbing inside of his own head, which feels almost like an electric storm that feels so painful. It's different from a headache and it feels the same as intense sorrow, perhaps as a sort of frozen panic with nowhere to go. No one to ease the pain.

Except the words written on the crumbled paper. The paper that she wrote.
The words formulated by Harin.

Clearing his throat, Taehyung sniffle and straighten up his crunched back. Swallowing he blinks away the blurriness captured inside of his eyes, focusing once more on the uplifting words that has helped him countless of times the past week. He bites his bottom lip, focusing on his breathing that slowly becomes normal again.

"Taehyung?"

A subtle knock and another voice makes the sitting male flinch, blinking fast to get rid of the spilled tears, drying his warm cheeks with the back of his hand.
Clearing his throat once more he closes his eyes, hoping his voice has reached it's usual again.

"Yes, what is it hyung?"

Scrunching his eyes together he realizes his voice is raspy and hollow.

"You've been in there for quite some time now. Are you okay?"

Namjoon's voice had this calm tone to it, somehow it always knew how to ease Taehyung — almost like a soothing effect.

"I'm fine." Taehyung breathes out, slowly standing up and take a glance in the small mirror, ruffling his tousled, blonde hair with his long fingers. Studying closer, his cheeks is bright red, the dry stains of tears still visible.

The sound of Namjoon is still present outside of the door, his breathing and the slight tapping with his foot giving him away. Taehyung shakes his head slightly, before turning the lock and step outside of the cramped bathroom, moving his way past the taller male who blinks confused.

With fast steps he's hoping that Namjoon will leave him be, but instead he hears fast footsteps coming from behind and before he knows it, a warm hand has captured his wrist making him halt in his steps.

"You're not fine."

Namjoon's voice is stern now, but still an underlying of worry still visible.

Taehyung turns, feeling how the tears threatens to spill once again, the pounding inside of his head crawling back, his chest tightening.

As his eyes reaches Namjoon's, he notices how Namjoon's brows knit together as Taehyung's red-sprung brown orbits stares at him. Namjoon swallows, wondering how he could bring back the joyful Taehyung.
At that moment he realized how he hadn't been seeing his signature boxy-smile in forever — he couldn't even remember the last time.

"And how would you know?" Taehyung says, his voice cracking slightly, pulling away from Namjoon's firm grip.

"Look at yourself! I can't even recognize you anymore, Taehyung. It's like you don't care about anything." Namjoon raises his voice, his annoyed expression changing into concern.

"Maybe I just really don't care anymore. Did that ever cross your mind?" Taehyung swallows hard, his angry eyes piercing into Namjoon, who clenches his jaw.

"Stop saying things you don't mean. Just— fucking stop."

Namjoon bites his bottom lip, the words spilled from the other male's lips sounding so true yet he could not believe it.
This isn't Taehyung. It can't be.

"Let's just get this shit over with. I want to go home." Taehyung says before he turns around, walking in the direction of the practice room where the other would be waiting.

Namjoon stares at Taehyung's back, how his figure somehow looks tense, noticing how his fingers keep shaking before he turns at the corner, out of sight.

But that doesn't stop the unsettling feeling deep down in the stomach of Namjoon, knowing that they have to do something about this soon — before Taehyung leaves for good.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

A/N NOTE 💌:
hello again! it's tuesday and i'm back with an update in this story. i hope you guys are well — and that you had a nice weekend.
i'm sorry the chapter is a bit short, but i figured it would be too long if i continued.
please tell me if you liked it anyhow !! i'll try to improve for you 💓

i'm going to watch the newest episode of RUN BTS now. let's see what these dorks are up to this time around .... :')
see you soon !!